Kentucky vs LSU.....A Preview

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs LSU 1/28/12 Saturday 4PM (SEC Network)
Kentucky leads the series 80-24

LSU

Location: Baton Rouge, La.
Enrollment: 27,992
Arena: 13,215

Head Coach: Trent Johnson
Career Record: 208-170 (55.0%) 12 seasons
At LSU: 49-49 (50%) 3 seasons

2010-11 Record: 11-21
2010-11 SEC Record: 3-13
Postseason: None

2011-12 Record: 12-8
2011-12 SEC Record: 2-4

LSU 96 Nicholls 74
Coastal Carolina 71 LSU 63
Northeastern 88 LSU 82
LSU 76 Western Kentucky 57
LSU 59 Georgia Tech 50
South Alabama 79 LSU 75 (OT)
LSU 59 Houston 58
LSU 55 Rutgers 50
LSU 64 Boise St. 45
LSU 66 UC Irvine 59
LSU 67 Marquette 59
LSU 67 N.Texas 58
LSU 69 Grambling 37
Virginia 57 LSU 52
LSU 81 Ole Miss 55
Alabama 69 LSU 53
Arkansas 69 LSU 60
LSU 65 Auburn 58 (OT)
Florida 76 LSU 64
Mississippi St. 76 LSU 71

LSU Stats

PPG-67.0
FG%-40.6%
3 PT.%-33.4% (5.5)
FT%-70.7%
RPG-38.6 (+2.1)
APG-12.6
TO’s-13.2
SPG-7.7
BPG-3.7

Probable Starting Lineup

Justin Hamilton-C 7’0” Jr……………………………..14.1 PPG
Andre Stringer-G 5’9” Soph…………………………...10.4 PPG
Anthony Hickey-G 5’11” Fr……………………………9.6 PPG
Ralston Turner-F 6’6” Soph……………………………8.8 PPG
Storm Warren-F 6’7” Sr………………………………..8.2 PPG

Coach Trent Johnson first year at LSU was highly successful…..as he won 27 games….won the SEC championship….and made the NCAA. However, the past two seasons have been a disaster….LSU is 22-41 and 5-27 in the SEC. As expected, LSU fans are not happy and this season is important to coach Johnson.

LSU added transfer 7’0” Justin Hamilton from Iowa St. along with Anthony Hickey, Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball and they both have been a huge plus for the Tigers. Hamilton is the team’s leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker. In a recent game against Florida, Hamilton scored 27 points against the Gators. Hickey is off to a solid start as a freshman starter leading the team in assists and steals while scoring at nearly 10 points PG. Andre Stringer leads LSU in perimeter shooting hitting 36.6%.

Although LSU stumbled early this season with a bad loss to Coastal Carolina, the Tigers have played much better with wins over Georgia Tech, Rutgers and Marquette. Already, in SEC conference play, LSU has shown to be a much more competitive team than the past two years and have won both home SEC games.

Importantly, LSU has recently opened a new beautiful basketball practice facility revealing the schools determination to be a top level SEC team. This season, LSU will not be the pushover that UK found last season, but still lack the talent to defeat the Cats even in home friendly Pete Maravich arena.

Kentucky arrives in Baton Rouge fresh off a win over Georgia in Athens. The Cats played very well in the 1st half hitting 56% from the field and 60% from the perimeter.
Unfortunately, UK’s offense stumbled in the 2nd half scoring only 19 points….while shooting a pitiful 30% from the field.

Still, there were a number of positives in the Georgia game. It was great to see Miller, Lamb and Wiltjer shooting very well from the perimeter. In fact, kudos to Darius Miller who had a terrific offensive game scoring 19 points. Davis and MKG were both solid on the boards snaring 11 rebounds apiece….as UK dominated the boards. Teague did a nice job running the offense with zero TO’s.

Hopefully, the Cats can get Anthony Davis more involved in the offense…..as Davis played 39 minutes and had only two shots. Also, UK needs Teague to improve his shooting as he continues to struggle from the perimeter. Importantly,Terrence Jones is giving good effort on the defensive end and rebounding well, however, he still has work to do on improving his offense.

All in all, any road win is a positive, but UK still needs improvement on both offense and defense. The Cats should defeat LSU by 12 points.
GO CATS!